


the westward sun

by loveinheaven



Category: Matilda (1996), Matilda - Roald Dahl, Matilda the Musical - Minchin/Kelly
Genre: Abandonment, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Development, Character Study, Child Abandonment, Child Neglect, Gen, Island - Freeform, Neglect, Stranded, i see her as having dark hair and medium-ish skin, just character work, lord of the flies vibes, messy haired babe, my inspiration comes pretty much entirely from the musical
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-26
Updated: 2018-11-26
Packaged: 2019-08-29 17:29:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16748467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loveinheaven/pseuds/loveinheaven
Summary: Matilda wakes up alone on an island, and she is keen to notice a brilliant sunrise in the West.Though, she is wise enough to know that the sun rises in the East.





	the westward sun

Matilda heard the familiar sound of her heart in her head.

This was accompanied by a dull pain in her head. She sat up, her movements shaky.

She was lost. She remembered one thing, the last thing that happened to her before she woke up here. She asked Miss Honey to adopt her. She said no. For Matilda’s sake, she claimed. 

_ “You would be better off in Spain with your caring parents than living in a shed with someone like me.” _

Her father said no as well, scoffing and rolling his eyes.

_ “If you have the audacity to ask your teacher to adopt you, what makes you think I'll be your guardian? Obviously, you want to leave this house. Your wish is granted, boy.” _

And then she remembered falling asleep in the car.

And waking up in the middle of nowhere. She didn't know where she was, but she was surrounded by water. She thought it might be an island, but she couldn't be sure. Matilda Wormwood was lost, though, and she could guarantee it.

After her headache subsided, she leaned forward and breathed deeply. It burned her throat, reminding her of her father’s cigars, constantly filling her house with hot air, heavy with smoke. She inhaled and coughed, sputtering when she tasted the saltiness of the air around her.

She knew she couldn't survive long if she didn't make a decision quickly, so she made that decision. She would find food, shelter and fresh water. 

The sun was setting when she finally stood up. The sand from the ground she lay on was tangled in her hair, and sand covered her feet as well. She looked like a monster, but she was still just a little girl in a school uniform. 

Matilda set to work.

She had her heart set on building a boat, and she would if there was anything to build with. But unfortunately, deserted islands like this one just aren't meant for building fantastic ships to go sailing through the deep in. So, due to a shocking lack of materials, Matilda sat back down and watched the sun fall.

And then, after the whole island was plunged into darkness, the sun came back. She didn't know why or how, but the sun shined again, brighter than ever before. But, one thing was off. The sun that rises in the East… was rising in the West.

And then, this glistening, Westward sun was gone. And then it was back. And gone, and back, like it was spinning in a circle and revolving around something Matilda couldn't even see.

Every minute, this fantastic new sun would appear. And after a minute had passed, it would slowly shy away. So, for a minute at a time, Matilda worked hard to gather materials, and then when the light was gone, Matilda stood still and waited for the light to return.

The sun came back for the first time. Matilda removed her tie and looped it over a low tree branch. She pulled the tie very tightly, and with a loud snapping noise, the branch was dragged to the ground like a fish to the ocean.

_ Fish, _ Matilda remembered.  _ I'm going to need food. _

But Matilda’s first priority was to gather leaves. She ripped large, waxy leaves from trees as the light shone on them, making them glisten. She fastened them together using sticks like sewing needles, until she had a huge raft made of leaves. 

She set the raft in the sea water and it began to sail away. Matilda reached for the last stick fastening the leaves together, but she was  half a second too late and the raft slipped from her hands and rode the waves out into the ocean. 

It was too late for her to sail to the sun in the distance.

So, defeatedly, she lay down on one last long, waxy leaf and fell asleep, her belly echoing with the pangs of her hunger. And she woke up to see the sun rising in the East, and it didn't go away after a minute this time. Matilda sat up and saw, far away in the distance, the familiar striped pole of a lighthouse.

That sun that had lit up her world, but only for sixty seconds at a time, was not a sun at all. It was a lighthouse, guiding sailors across the sea. And even though Matilda couldn't follow the light across the sea, she felt the lighthouse guiding her just the same. She knew she had to busy herself. She picked up a long branch and set to work, and she called this busyness “Building a Shelter.”

She began by collecting all the fallen leaves nearby. The sea air liked this little girl, and so it blew all the leaves nearby into a pile that rested right next to her waking-up place, making it very easy for her to pick up leaves one by one and weave them into an intricate little hammock, perfectly sized to support a child as small as Matilda Wormwood.

Then, Matilda searched for food. Feeling the sun warming her back directly above her head, she removed her blazer and tied each sleeve to a strong vine, then flung this out into the ocean. Slowly, the fish in the sea began to wonder what Matilda was holding out in the middle of the ocean water, and swam towards this foreign object sitting in their sea. One fish got caught in a sleeve, and Matilda felt the tug and immediately pulled the fish from the water.

The scales were the first thing Matilda noticed. They were brilliantly colored, and because Matilda had never seen a fish before it was prepared as food, she felt a pang of guilt in knowing she would soon consume it. Matilda looked this beautiful fish in the eyes and smiled, and she couldn't tell if she was seeing things, or if the fish really smiled back at her. The fish’s eyes were blue, and they reflected the sea behind her. Matilda also saw her own reflection in this fish’s eyes, and reluctantly, she let the creature go.

The little fish, as if to say thank you, flipped its tail and swam away giddily.

So, Matilda set to work a third time, climbing to the top of the tallest tree and shaking branch after branch until three beautifully round coconuts crashed to the ground. 

Matilda, being the curious and seemingly unstoppable girl she was, immediately cracked the first coconut open with a large stick. Liquid poured out, and Matilda tentatively dipped her finger into the little pool of liquid inside the coconut and tasted it. This little ocean of coconut water looked just like the bigger ocean that Matilda sat on an island in the middle of. The only difference was that this little coconut was the world, and Matilda held this whole world in her hands. She, for once, was in control.

But suddenly, Matilda looked around and saw that she didn't have the power to take on the world. She was small, she remembered. She was not a piece of sand in this coconut’s world. She was Matilda Wormwood, trapped alone on an island in the middle of nothingness. 

And the world crept into a dark tunnel once more, like it did every time the sun left, and the lighthouse lit up again.

By the light of this new, brighter, revolving, rising-Westward sun, she was guided.

**Author's Note:**

> hello!! i hope you all enjoyed this character study piece!! this was heavily inspired by the play “This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing” by Australian playwright Finnegan Kruckemeyer. he is truly brilliant. check out his works if you can.  
> thanks for reading :) i greatly appreciate comments and kudos, and please let me know what you liked/where i can improve!! thank you!!


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